Title: Leon's Story
Author: Leon Walter Tillage
Art by: Susan L. Roth
Required Reading
Leon's Story is an emotional roller coaster. The way the author started writing this story was carefully thought out. In the beginning of book the grammar in was terrible, well bad enough for me to have to go back and reread a couple of sentences. Then by the end of the book, after Leon had gotten more educated the grammar was easier to read. I thought this book did a great job of letting the readers understand the key points in Leon's life. In this book there were a few chapter that really took me by surprise, for example in one of the chapters there was a connection between Esperanza Rising and this book. Leon had a tough childhood he was the second from the oldest. It is amazing how far Leon has come and how much he has achieved since his sharecropping days. This is a motivational book, that can really help readers be determined to follow their dreams. Something I also found interesting in the book was the art, there was art after every chapter. I thought it was important because it was a black and white design that formed unity.
This book is not like a "typical" black history book, but it is a book from a children point of view who had to make his own discussions. He had to figure out how to survive and make the right choices for himself and his family members. It was great to read a book that wasn't about Martin Luther King Jr. (no offense to the people who like him, I do, but reading the same type of book over again can get old) and how he helped with Black rights. It was nice to see how a citizen took charge and helped the cause. Leon did a great job of explaining all the events that took place when he was marching.
At the end of the book it was great to see that Leon after working thirty years was honored by the school he was working at. I recommend that everyone should read this book. It is great the see the struggles that someone had to face and still learn about the history of slavery. In the beginning of the book I had made a connection with Leon, "I remember as a young boy I used to look in the mirror and I would curse my color, my blackness, but in those days they didn't call you "black". They called you "colored" or "nigger"." These sentences really hit home for me, no I am not black but I have vitiligro (lack of skin pigmentation in certain areas) and I remember as a young girl looking in the mirror also, and hating the way I looked. I had kids in school calling me "cow legs". This book is a very good book that everyone should read.
This book is not like a "typical" black history book, but it is a book from a children point of view who had to make his own discussions. He had to figure out how to survive and make the right choices for himself and his family members. It was great to read a book that wasn't about Martin Luther King Jr. (no offense to the people who like him, I do, but reading the same type of book over again can get old) and how he helped with Black rights. It was nice to see how a citizen took charge and helped the cause. Leon did a great job of explaining all the events that took place when he was marching.
At the end of the book it was great to see that Leon after working thirty years was honored by the school he was working at. I recommend that everyone should read this book. It is great the see the struggles that someone had to face and still learn about the history of slavery. In the beginning of the book I had made a connection with Leon, "I remember as a young boy I used to look in the mirror and I would curse my color, my blackness, but in those days they didn't call you "black". They called you "colored" or "nigger"." These sentences really hit home for me, no I am not black but I have vitiligro (lack of skin pigmentation in certain areas) and I remember as a young girl looking in the mirror also, and hating the way I looked. I had kids in school calling me "cow legs". This book is a very good book that everyone should read.
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